On March 19, 2026, Air India flight AI185 from New Delhi to Vancouver was forced to return to its origin after nearly eight hours in the air due to a significant operational oversight. According to reports from The Hindu and The Economic Times, the airline mistakenly deployed a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft for the route, even though its regulatory approvals for Canadian operations are strictly limited to the Boeing 777-300ER variant. The error was only identified while the plane was cruising over Chinese airspace near Kunming, roughly four hours into the 15-hour journey. To avoid potential legal complications or being denied entry into Canadian airspace, the cockpit crew was instructed to perform a mid-air U-turn, landing back in Delhi at approximately 7:19 PM.

      The "flight to nowhere" resulted in substantial financial losses for the airline, with The Times of India noting that the unnecessary fuel burn for the eight-hour round trip, combined with passenger accommodation costs, likely ran into several crores of rupees. Air India issued a statement attributing the incident to an "operational issue" and confirmed that all passengers were provided with hotel stays and meals before being flown to Vancouver on the correct aircraft the following morning. Industry experts cited by Hindustan Times highlighted that international aviation permits are often specific to certain aircraft variants or even individual tail numbers, and this rare human error underscored a lapse in the airline's internal dispatch and documentation protocols.